Lillenas Drama Presents The Trouble with Evelyn From Gimme Five By Torry Martin Theme: Gossip Cast: CARL Teenager chosen to lead a youth group Bible study HARVEY Teenage friend Setting: Carl s backyard Costumes: Both are dressed as contemporary teenagers Props: Two softball gloves Softball Bible Backyard bench Running Time: 5 minutes (HARVEY and CARL both enter carrying their softball gloves. One of them also has the softball while the other has a Bible. They sit down on the bench together and place the gloves, ball, and Bible beside themselves. They pause for a moment, then HAR- VEY leans forward and places his chin in his hands while resting his elbows on his knees. CARL leans all the way back against the bench and looks at the sky. They do this simultaneously. Both hold that pose for a five count. They both sit upright again next to each other for a three count, then CARL goes into the pose with hands on chin and elbows on knees while HARVEY leans all the way back and looks at sky for another five count. They both then sit completely straight for another three count.) CARL: I give up. HARVEY: You can t give up. CARL: I can t think of a topic. HARVEY: You will, don t worry about it. CARL: What if I look stupid? HARVEY: Dude, there is no way you can look stupid. CARL: Then why don t you do it? HARVEY: I don t want to look stupid. CARL: I thought you just said...
HARVEY: Look, you re the one who volunteered to lead the Bible study, so what s the hold up? CARL: I need a topic! HARVEY: Talk about faith. CARL: No, everyone talks about faith. HARVEY: What about love? CARL: Too mooshy. HARVEY: Charity? CARL: Blech. HARVEY: Tithing? CARL (sticks finger down throat and makes gagging noise): Aaaaaaa! HARVEY (standing up, he grabs their mitts off the bench and tosses one to CARL): Well, let s stop thinking so hard. C mon, we ll just play catch and talk for a minute instead. CARL (standing and putting mitt on): Good, I can use the break. (They toss the ball back and forth throughout this next part.) HARVEY: Hey, you know what I heard? CARL: What? HARVEY: I heard that you asked Phoebe to go to the concert and she turned you down. CARL: That s not true! HARVEY: So, you didn t ask her? CARL: No, she didn t turn me down! HARVEY: Then she s going with you? CARL: She said she d think about it. HARVEY (beat): She turned you down. CARL: Who told you anyway? HARVEY: I overheard it when the girls were talking. CARL: What girls? HARVEY: The girls at church. CARL: You mean the girls were just standing around talking about me? HARVEY: Basically. CARL: That s gossiping. HARVEY: Yeah, I suppose it is.
CARL (stops tossing ball): Hey! That can be my topic! HARVEY: What? Girls? CARL: No. Gossip! I can talk about gossip! HARVEY: Hey, yeah. CARL: It s perfect! HARVEY: You d be telling those girls exactly what they needed to hear! CARL: Yeah, and maybe it ll teach them a lesson. HARVEY: Dude, I m all for teaching the girls a lesson. CARL (tossing ball again): Me, too, especially Evelyn Flagstaff. HARVEY: Yeah, as far as gossips go, she s the worst. CARL: I know. Every time I see her she s talking about someone. HARVEY: Rachel Jacobi does that too. CARL: And so does Meredith Triplet. HARVEY: I heard she s dating Bobby now. CARL (stopping ball and taking his glove off and sitting it on the floor while sitting down eager to hear the scoop): No way! Where d ya hear that? HARVEY (sitting and tossing his glove on the floor too): Evelyn. CARL: See? See how bad she is? HARVEY: She also told me the truth about how much Ryan s car cost. CARL: How much? HARVEY: Not a thing! His uncle is a car dealer who owed his dad a favor. CARL: I knew it! There was no way he could have afforded those payments. HARVEY: Not with what his parents make. CARL: Especially not now that they re going through a bankruptcy. HARVEY: They are? CARL: Yep. HARVEY: Who told you that? CARL: Evelyn. But Melissa confirmed it through Rachel who double-checked with her mom who sits next to them in church. HARVEY: Well, then it s not gossip. CARL: No, not when it s confirmed. HARVEY: Dude! Speaking of Evelyn, I almost forgot to tell you... CARL: What? Tell me what?
HARVEY: I heard that she was hanging out with some of the wrong kids at school and started doing drugs. CARL: Evelyn does drugs? That s whacked, dude. She s supposed to be the president of the Drug Free School Club. HARVEY: I know. CARL: What a total hypocrite. HARVEY: Total. (A beat while standing up) Hey,... we re not gossiping about Evelyn, are we? CARL (standing up): No, not if we say we re gonna pray for her afterwards. HARVEY: Oh, cool. BOTH (in unison): We ll pray for her. CARL: But speaking of gossip, did you hear about Ricky getting put on restriction for skipping school? HARVEY: Oh boy, I ll bet that doofus is in big trouble this time. CARL: Yeah, what an idiot. BOTH (in unison): We ll pray for him. HARVEY (satisfied): Well, at least we got your topic for youth group. CARL: Yeah, but do you think it s good enough? HARVEY: What do ya mean? CARL: I mean, it s just a topic and not a whole scripture. HARVEY (picks up Bible from bench and tosses it to Carl): So? Just find a scripture that deals with it then. CARL (tosses Bible back to Harvey): I don t want to look for a scripture! That could take all day. HARVEY (tosses Bible back to Carl): Then just use a scripture you already know and forget about the topic. CARL (tosses Bible back to Harvey): But I don t know any scriptures. HARVEY (sits back down): What about that one that says not to try to take the splinter out of your brother s eyes when ya have a plank in your own? CARL (sitting down): What are you, stupid? (Beat) That scripture s only good for carpenters. HARVEY: That is a pretty limited audience. CARL: I ll just talk about gossip then. HARVEY: OK, but if you don t have a scripture, (waves Bible around in air) make sure you wave your Bible around in the air a lot so it ll look like you do. CARL: Cool. (Beat, then standing) Man, I can t wait to see Evelyn s face when she hears my topic.
HARVEY (standing up excitedly with Bible): Yeah, she s gonna get bent all out of shape over it. CARL (picking up gloves and ball): So what? She deserves it. HARVEY: Yeah, cause she s such a no good, low life, drug-doing gossip. CARL: Exactly. BOTH (beat, then in unison): We ll pray for her. (They exit.) The purchase of this sketch entitles the purchaser to make photocopies of this material for use in their church or nonprofit organization. The sharing of this material with other churches or organizations not owned or controlled by the original purchaser is strictly prohibited. The contents of this sketch may not be reproduced in any other form without written permission from the publisher. Please include the copyright statement found below on each copy made. Lillenas Publishing Company Drama Resources P.O. Box 419527 Kansas City, MO 64141 Questions? Please write, call, or E-mail: Phone: 816-931-1900 Fax: 816-412-8390 The sketch collection Gimme Five (MP-848) is available for purchase from Lillenas Drama or from your local Christian bookstore. For a full description of the rest of this collection, or to purchase other individual sketches, refer to www.lillenasdrama.com E-mail: drama@lillenas.com Web Site: www.lillenasdrama.com